


Lightshow

by quietcarnage



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Fireworks, Fluff without Plot, Love, M/M, Peter Parker's Birthday, Quentin Beck in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:53:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25822423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quietcarnage/pseuds/quietcarnage
Summary: Quentin, after luring Peter into the city, decides he's done being the villain, and Peter finally acts on old feelings.aka; fluff, no plot
Relationships: Quentin Beck/Peter Parker
Comments: 15
Kudos: 100





	Lightshow

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this in 2 hours on no sleep bc i just realized it's Peter's birthday today, and I gotta put out _something_

It was nearing midnight when he finally caught up to Mysterio. He had to have been tailing the villain for at least an hour, following him deeper into the heart of the city starting from the edges of Queens straight into Times Square. It was obviously a trap, he knew he was being lured the second Beck had shown up within the view of his window. Where he was being led to was the real question.

He had the option of not following, he always did. With the summer quarter of his university drawing to a close and finals rearing their ugly heads right around the corner, it was especially tempting to just ignore the domed villain. But what kind of hero would that make him? 

If something were to happen, and he had knowingly let Mysterio go, he didn’t know how he would live with himself. So reluctantly, he slipped on the spandex and opened his bedroom window to find Beck sat atop the building across the street, waving tauntingly with his fingers. And so the chase began.

It was a game of cat and mouse from there, with Beck appearing and disappearing in a puff of green smoke from roof to roof. Peter fancied himself as not-an-idiot of sorts, he was fully aware that each of these were illusions, and not really Beck, but until he got close enough for them to disappear, he had no way of predicting which direction he’d head in next.

When he fell on his face diving into the illusion of Mysterio for what felt like the hundredth time, he groaned in frustration, pounding a closed fist into the roof. “Come on! Just tell me where we’re going already!”

“Now where’s the fun in that?” Beck’s voice whispered lowly in his ear, Peter instinctually driving an elbow back into thin air. He huffed, pouting and puffing his reddened cheeks as the next illusion appeared several blocks away, beckoning him with a crooked finger. He got up and followed.

His relation with Beck was… complicated. That was probably the best way to put it. When he’d met the man in Europe the first time, he had been 17 and head over heels the second he saw the helmet come off. Lax as he was to admit it, that puppy crush had never really gone away. Yes, he was a manipulative bastard, yes he was a certified villain with bad intentions, but goddamn if he wasn’t also the most attractive, smooth talking, charismatic son of a bitch he’d ever met.

When Beck wasn’t plotting, or doing whatever villains did in their down time, he wasn’t all that bad of a person. Despite being one of the very few who knew his true identity, in addition to the huge amount of money he’d been offered before, Beck had never revealed his identity to any of the other villains. He never really hurt him, and he’d even asked him out for a drink once, but he had been webbed upside down to a dumpster, so that may have just been the blood rushing to his head.

He never let it get to his head though. Despite the fact that Beck never hurt him, he sure as hell didn’t care much for civilian casualties.

Peter sped up his pursuit, fearing the worst as Beck began leading him into New York City, one roof at a time.

It was when he was directly above Times Square that Peter felt his heart really beginning to hammer away in his chest. It was only just barely approaching 12am, and the square was completely packed with people. If anything were to happen, there was no guarantee everyone would get away safely.

To make matters worse, he still had no idea what Beck was planning. He ran for Mysterio, as he had done several times that night already, diving for the suit as it disappeared to the next location, only this time for him to crash face first into the cape.

“Mmph!” 

“Jesus, Peter!”

Peter shot him a look. As long as they were both suited up, Beck _never_ used his name.

“Sorry. You can lose the mask by the way, I’ve got glamour on this little spot on the roof. No one’s gonna see you.” Beck sat, removing his helmet and patting the spot next to him. The two of them were on the flat edge of the billboard above American Eagle Outfitters. They had a good vantage point over the streets, but no one seemed to notice them, just as Beck had said. Usually tourists would be stopping to snap a quick picture of him by this point.

A glance at how relaxed Beck was, lounging on the edge and Peter began to relax as well. He was still a bit suspicious though, refusing to remove his mask, unsure of what exactly the point was of dragging him all the way out there, but he sat.

To his surprise, there was a blanket already spread out. Something he hadn’t noticed until he was close enough. In addition, there was a basket, wicker, like the picnic type.

“What’s all this?” He asked, lifting the lid to the basket. Inside, there were an assortment of sweets, namely churros. 

Beck glanced at the watch on his wrist, mumbling an “it’s for you, obviously,” and glancing back out into the sky.

“What is?” He pulled a churro out of the basket, pleasantly surprised to find it was still warm and toasty. Perfect for the cool night air. He pulled his mask off to eat it, putting his faith in Beck that the glamour worked. His illusions had never failed before, so he wasn’t all too worried about it.

Besides that, he just liked spending time with him. Beck was still one of the first super-friends he had ever made. They had history, and a continual mutual trust that neither ever acknowledged. He still had a dumb crush on the man, and Beck still clearly had a soft spot for him. He kept his secrets and he had his back.

The truth was, despite his deception, Peter knew he’d still trust Beck with his life.

So whatever was happening then and there on the billboard, Peter wasn’t worried. He knew at the very least, his identity would be safe.

“This. Check it out.” Beck grinned, putting his watch down. Peter snuck a glance, noticing it was exactly 12am. 

Before he got the chance to ask anymore questions, lights began going out one at a time, starting from the south and spreading like a ripple across the square, plunging the entire section of the city into darkness. People began to scream, some running about aimlessly, others simply turning on their phone flashlights and continuing on.

“Quentin, what’s going on?”

Peter felt his stomach drop, unsure of what exactly was happening, but not seeing anything inherently dangerous about a power outage yet. His spidey senses were quiet, and Quentin kept his eyes on the streets, an easy smile as he leaned his shoulder into Peter’s space. 

“Shhh… Just watch.”

There were several small _put_ ’s accompanied by high pitched whines, and then… 

_Boom!_

The sky lit up, one after another as fireworks began to go off right in the center of the street exploding high up in the darkness. With the city’s lights out, the fireworks looked brighter, more vivid than any Peter had ever seen before.

He felt his mouth fall open, eyes practically shining with each explosion.

“I- oh, _wow_.”

The embers flew down, disappearing into smoke as more went off, illuminating the sky with the pyrotechnic display.

Peter relaxed, leaning back to bump his shoulder into Quentin’s. “Dude…”

“Happy birthday, Peter.” He smiled, picking up the young hero’s hand, and placing a small box into his palm. Peter looked down, the box only visible each time a firework went off. It was yellow, or maybe it was green, or was it blue? It seemed to change colors every time the firework show did. There was a soft ribbon binding it shut, that looked like it had been wrapped meticulously to perfection. It came undone with a soft tug, falling over his hands and onto the blanket they sat on.

Tentatively opening it, his eyes widened as a thin silver chain sat within, simple, but expensive looking.

With wide eyes, he looked back up at Mysterio, then down at the chain again.

“Did you…” A firework went off between them, Quentin smiling softly in the way that made Peter want to fall in love all over again. “Did you steal this?”

“Oh my god. No, I bought it.”

“With stolen money.”

“With my savings fund from back when I worked at Stark Industries.”

“Oh.”

Peter felt the blush creeping up his cheeks before he realized it was even happening. The tears though, he already knew were coming.

He had forgotten all about his birthday. To him it had never been anything truly remarkable or worth remembering. He never threw parties, he never really saw a reason to celebrate. This… whatever this was that Quentin had set up. This had never happened to him before. No one had ever put that much thought into his birthday.

“It's August 10th.”

Quentin nodded

“It's my birthday.”

“It is.” Quentin scooted to sit behind him, his hand getting caught in his cape a couple of times as he shifted, drawing a few chuckles out of Peter. As soon as he was seated behind him, he reached a hand forward to pull the jewelry from its box, encircling Peter’s body with his arms as he unclasped the chain.

He pulled it back, securing it onto his neck. “I just thought Spider-Man should accessorize.”

Peter sniffled, trying his best to make it sound casual, or disguise it as a laugh. “Hey, what’s wrong?” 

A couple more fireworks went off, behind them. Peter looked down, touching the chain around his neck softly, wishing he could feel it with his fingers instead of gloves, and _fuck_ he really was falling for him like it was 2023 all over again.

“Nothing, haha, it’s just um- I- no one’s ever done anything like this for me before.” Peter laughed, dabbing at his eyes in a way he hoped looked at least a little discreet.

“I hope not. I hadn’t heard about anyone else completely shutting down the power in the biggest shopping district in the city for a fireworks show before, and I was shooting for originality.”

Peter shoved him playfully, Quentin moving to sit next to him once again, dangling their legs over the edge.

“I just mean… this was really nice. I- thank you.” He looked up, meeting Beck’s gaze and holding it. He caught the mans eyes wandering, trailing down to his lips, his chest, then back to his lips, his eyes.

Quentin’s half lidded eyes, tongue darting out to wet his lips, and his hand resting in the small space between them almost felt like too much. Peter put his hand down over his, boldly, praying he wasn’t reading into this wrong.

“You’re welcome.”

He closed his eyes, leaning forward, and Quentin met him in the middle as the final few fireworks began to go off. Peter felt a tear trail down his cheek, a hand roaming upwards to cup Quentin’s jaw as their lips moved together. 

Neither were particularly fighting for dominance, instead taking their time just to memorize the feel of one another.

Peter pulled away first, Quentin leaning downwards, chasing the missed connection just a bit before slowly opening his eyes. He didn’t pull away, just closing his eyes and pressing his forehead against Peter’s with that soft smile he didn’t seem to have been able to let go of all night.

The fireworks had ended, and one by one, the city lights began to come back on. Reilluminating the square in it’s familiar modernistic glow.

Peter blinked, taking in Quentin’s features as he had done dozens of times before. He looked exactly the same, but his position, looking up at him as their foreheads were pressed together was a whole new angle. He couldn’t help but laugh out a nervous one, leaning his entire side into Beck, who readjusted to welcome him with open arms.

He lay his head on Beck’s lap, closing his eyes as his hair was stroked. “Did you really cut the city’s electricity just to give me a fireworks show in Times Square?”

“Yeah.”

Peter laughed, unsure of what even he could make of that. “Why?”

“I...” Quentin picked up his hand, pressing a kiss to the knuckles as he thought. “I don’t know. I guess I just really like you, Peter. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, and as the years go on I don’t wanna keep doing this will-they-won’t-they BS. I just wanna be happy with you, and - god this sounds so dumb - I wanna show you what I can be for you.”

With the confession, he nodded. He had no idea what this meant for the two of them going forward, but to hell with it. One year older, and he was going to take the damn chance. No one understood him like Quentin did, and if he didn’t at least try, he knew he’d regret it for the rest of his life. 


End file.
